Translate

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Man Dies After Peeing On Chicago's famed ‘L’ Tracks

EVANSTON, Ill. (CBS) — An Indiana man died overnight, after coming into contact with the electrified third rail as he urinated on the Purple Line ‘L’ tracks in Evanston.

The man was at the South Boulevard Purple Line stop around 11 p.m. Sunday with two other people when he came into contact with the third rail, according to CTA spokeswoman Lambrini Lukidis.
The man, Zachary McKee, 27, of Ossian, Ind., was pronounced dead at Saint Francis Hospital in Evanston at 11:52 p.m., according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office.

It turned out that the man had climbed down to the tracks to urinate when he fell onto the third rail, according to a news release from the Evanston Police Department.

Authorities have not said whether the man urinated on the third rail.

One of the two people the man was with ran down stairs to the booth at the entrance at the station and alerted the security guard on duty to the situation, Lukidis said. The security guard then called Evanston Police and Fire officials.

The London Daily Mail reported that McKee had served four years with the U.S. Marines, in the Anbar province in Iraq and in Iwakuni, Japan. He served in the Marines for four years, until 2010, the Daily Mail reported.

At the time of his death, McKee was working toward his undergraduate degree in political science and government at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, the Daily Mail reported.

McKee’s Twitter page indicated that he was in Chicago for the weekend, and that he had attended a Cubs game at Wrigley Field and visited restaurants in Chinatown. He also tweeted that he stayed in a “jank ass” hotel in Chinatown.

Before his death, McKee tweeted, “There’s no stopping us right now.”

Contrary to legends and lore, the program “Mythbusters” has concluded that urinating directly onto the third rail is unlikely to cause death in itself. In fact, some purported cases of such deaths are actually believed to have involved direct bodily contact with the rail, as appears to be the case in the Sunday night incident.

In 1991, a 14-year-old boy was killed after urinating on the Red Line ‘L’ tracks at the Morse Avenue stop in Rogers Park. While some reports say the cause was urination on the third rail, the Straight Dope concludes that he likely suffered electrocution from direct contact.

In 1977, a man named Sang Yeul Lee trespassed onto the ground-level Brown Line tracks at Kedzie Avenue to urinate. Based on autopsy findings, the Straight Dope says he too likely died by coming into direct contact with the electrified rail.

1 comment:

What people don't understand is that this is not really as cool as they make it out to be in the movies. In Ghostbusters, they traveled down the railroad/subway tracks and ended up just fine, even Law and Order has some nut living in there but they don't realize that it poses a real danger.

About Me

Actor, Casting Director, Director, Broadcaster, Writer, Singer, Artistic
Director, Dramatur, Producer, Professor, Coach, Husband, Grandfather, Marketing
Professional and life long student Art Lynch joined the staff of John Robert
Powers in 1999. Lynch is also an adjunct professor at the Community College of
Southern Nevada, the Morning Edition Weekend Host for Nevada Public Radio and
one of 67 individuals who represent 126,000 actors as a member of the Board of
Directors of the Screen Actors Guild. He is the past president of the Nevada
Branch of the Screen Actors Guild and of the Professional Audio/Visual Communications
Association. A resident of Nevada since 1984, Lynch has an MA in Communications
from UNLV and a BA in Theater, Speech and Mass Communications from the
University of Illinois, Chicago. He is currently pursuing post-graduate studies
in theater, education and the entertainment industry. Art Lynch studied and
practiced the craft of acting in Chicago and California before settling in
Nevada. With his wife Laura, Art owned and operated a successful marketing
company with national clientele. Art was personally responsible for casting and
directing over 1,000 commercials and industrials, as well as assisting on film
and television projects in many ways. His career also includes earning awards
as a wire service, magazine and broadcast journalist. He is most proud,
however, of his daughters. Ann is a PhD in neuroscience and Beth is the proud
mother of his grandchildren, Evan and Elijah.

Short Film Festival

DISCLAIMER

The resources listed herein are posted for informational purposes only. The authors of this blog are not affiliated with, nor do they endorse, sponsor or guarantee any of the above resources or any of the information, advice, services or other resources obtained through these resources. All information and content on this blog is for informational purposed only and not to be taken as legally vetted journalism or endorsed in any way by the authors of this blog, the Screen Actors Guild, College of Southern Nevada, Casting Call Entertainment, Boulder City Parks and Recreation or any other entity implied or mentioned on this blog. No guarantee of any kind is made as to the accuracy or suitability of these resources or the qualifications of any companies or individuals affiliated with them.